


Tea & sympathy

by iridescentglow



Category: Skins
Genre: Het and Slash, Incest, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-29
Updated: 2009-12-29
Packaged: 2017-10-05 10:41:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/40879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iridescentglow/pseuds/iridescentglow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maxxie tries to build bridges with Tony, but gets more than he bargained for at the Stonem house.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tea & sympathy

**Author's Note:**

> **Warnings:** underage sex; incest; threesome; dubious consent.
> 
> If you're looking for good old-fashioned slashy goodness, this is probably not the story for you. It's more about Effy (and her relationship with Tony), viewed through the eyes of Maxxie.
> 
> **Spoilers:** #1.08, 'Effy'. For the sake of this story (and my sanity), pretend #1.09 didn't happen.

"Alright?" Maxxie said when Tony opened the door.

Tony looked him up and down, looked out at the rain. He made no move to let Maxxie inside. "Alright?" he replied tonelessly.

"Alright," Maxxie said again, redundantly.

He had found that it was completely possible to have a fully-formed conversation consisting entirely of the word _alright_, batted back and forth between two people. It was all about the inflection—whether you stretched it out, like _alriiiiight_, or stamped it down into a single grunt; added a question mark or an exclamation—but you could distil whole sentences into one word. The only thing was, Maxxie had hoped he might be able to find more to say to Tony. He cleared his throat.

"Can I come in?"

Tony shrugged laboriously, a flicker of sarcasm appearing on his face. "If you really want to," he said.

Maxxie shuffled inside as Tony stepped back, holding open the door. He raked the wet hair off his forehead. Tony made a face as he accidentally flicked water in his direction. He looked at his feet and watched the water pool there on the hall floor tiles.

"Didn't think to bring an umbrella?" Tony asked. "It's been raining all day."

"No," Maxxie said, feeling stupid. It really hadn't occurred to him. In fact, he hadn't planned to stop by at all. One minute he'd been at home, watching the Disney channel and having impure thoughts about _High School Musical_. An hour later he'd found himself turning up Tony's street. His mum said he was impulsive. That was usually a word people used when they really meant _stupid_.

Maxxie tried again. "Haven't seen you in a while. I mean, since all that stuff. Sid told me about what happened with your sister and I mean… I'm sorry. That's really fucked up."

Tony didn't reply. He began to walk down the hall towards the kitchen and Maxxie followed, still talking. "And I know things have been weird with us since we went to Russia and… everything that happened then. I know things with you and Michelle are all bollocksed up, and part of that's me. My fault. But it's you as well, Tony. You were a right cunt to me and I was mad at you for a while. It's okay, though, 'cause I'm over it."

They reached the threshold of the kitchen. Still Tony didn't say anything. Maxxie continued, "And I just wanted to say sorry, for what I said to you in Russia, because you weren't that bad. When you gave me that blowjob, you weren't so bad, really. I mean, not good, obviously. But it wasn't, like, my worst _ever_. There was this boy I met in my Expressive Movement class. We went out for, like, a week and it didn't work out. But the one time we had sex, he gave really bad head. It was like he was trying to do it _expressively_ and…"

Maxxie trailed off as he realized that the kitchen wasn't empty. Effy was propped against the worktop, her head tilted slightly as she listened impassively. She blinked at him and said nothing.

"You remember my sister, Effy," Tony said, shooting Maxxie a tight smile that seemed to communicate, _shut up_.

Maxxie gave a small and moronic wave in her direction. "Oh. Yeah. Alright?"

She didn't reply.

"We were just having tea," said Tony.

The kettle clicked off, sending a cloud of steam into the air as it reached the boil. Wordlessly, Effy set out three tea cups on the work surface. She paused and glanced at Tony. He said, "Oh, yeah, I hid it behind the Alpen. Dad never eats that stuff."

Effy stood on tip toes, reaching up into one of the high shelves. She pushed aside the cereal and pulled out a bottle of Bells whiskey. With noticeable concentration, she poured identical amounts into each of the tea cups. Then she added hot water. As she returned the whiskey to its hiding place, Tony reached over and grabbed two of the cups. He handed one to Maxxie.

"If the parentals come in the room, pretend it's tea, okay?" He picked up a box of tea bags that were sitting nearby. "Orange and cinnamon," he read from the packet. His eyebrows quirked. "How delightful."

Effy smiled at Tony, but still she said nothing. Tony and Effy didn't stand close together, the way Maxxie had noticed that siblings often radiated towards one another. If anything, they kept their distance. Yet somehow, they seemed to _orbit_ each other; never touching, but each always aware of the other's presence. It was like an invisible cord connected them.

Not knowing what else to do, Maxxie took a sip of his "tea". He didn't want to say anything, for fear he'd accidentally say something wrong. His earlier comment about Tony's blowjob technique still seemed to hang in the air. It was unnerving to be thrust suddenly into the Stonem siblings' tiny universe of meaningful looks and unspoken words. Every time he sneaked a glance at Effy, he found her looking right back at him. Her gaze was somehow impassive yet intense. He couldn't shake the feeling that she was trying to x-ray into his head and read his thoughts.

Maxxie gulped absently from his cup and then choked. Tony raised an eyebrow at him as he recovered from his coughing fit and the three of them lapsed back into silence. Tony drank his whiskey as if it were actually orange-and-cinnamon tea, taking it in short, measured swallows. Effy curled her fingers around the china, holding the tea cup close to her face and inhaling the scent and warmth. Occasionally, she would take small, cat-like sips from the cup.

The sound of the lounge door opening was startling in the quiet kitchen. BBC interlude music blared loudly, interspersed by talking and laughter. As he heard footsteps in the hall, Maxxie glanced guilty at his cup of "tea". When Tony's mum and dad appeared in the doorway, he put the cup down hastily and tried to conceal it with his arm. He noticed both Tony and Effy smirk at him.

"Good episode of _Autumnwatch_?" Tony asked his dad.

"You may mock, my son," said Tony's dad, "but it was. Learned all about the mating habits of the red deer. It was most illuminating."

Tony's mum laughed, as if he'd said something funny. Tony rolled his eyes.

As Mrs. Stonem's eyes fell on Maxxie, she said, "Oh, hello there. Haven't seen you in a while."

"Don't say that, love," Tony's dad told her, "they might have fallen out. You never know what kids get up to. Everything's always so dramatic, life or death." His face darkened slightly. It seemed to take him a moment to gather his thoughts. "Friends again, are you?" he murmured distractedly. "Good, good."

Tony rolled his eyes again, although more discreetly. Maxxie couldn't think what to say, so he just made an effort to smile. He suspected the result was slightly manic.

"We're going upstairs," Tony said at last. He took three more measured swallows and then placed his empty tea cup in the sink. He moved to the door. Not knowing what else to do, Maxxie followed him. He hadn't finished his "tea" and to leave it behind seemed incriminating, so he took the cup with him, still half-hiding it behind his back. He glanced back and saw Effy tip her head back and drain her own cup, with a few effortless gulps. She didn't even blanch. She placed her empty cup in the sink next to Tony's and moved to follow her brother.

"You sure you don't want to stay down here with us, sweetheart?" Mrs. Stonem asked Effy. "Leave the boys to their fun. Your dad and I could make cocoa."

"We just had tea," Tony said. "So she doesn't want cocoa." He turned to Effy. "Do you?"

Effy moved her head slightly.

"See?" Tony continued. "She doesn't want cocoa. Leave her alone. She can come upstairs with me and Max if she wants."

Mr. Stonem was getting red in the face, but before he could say anything, Tony let out an exasperated breath and left the room. He bounded down the hall and Maxxie heard his feet thump hard against the stairs as he took them two at a time. Resurrecting his awkward smile for a moment, Maxxie muttered an awkward, "Bye!" at Tony's parents, bowed out of the kitchen and followed Tony upstairs. A quick backward glance confirmed that Effy, too, was following, but at a slower, meandering pace.

Tony's bedroom was still tidier than a teenager's bedroom had any right to be. Most of the carpet was visible. There were clothes hanging in the wardrobe, rather than in heaps on the floor. His bed was actually made—although as she entered the room, Effy _flomp_ed carelessly onto it, producing a comfortable dent over the female outline. What was different about Tony's room, Maxxie noticed, was that, though still tidy, it was now lightly cluttered. Maxxie almost tripped over some hair straighteners that formed a noose on the carpet near the door. Beside the Anaïs Nin book on Tony's nightstand was a windfall of glittery, colourful tubes of lip gloss and eye makeup. The faint scent of perfume that clung to the room was not restricted to the place where Effy lolled on the bed; it was deep-seated, built up over a period of days and weeks.

With all three of them inside, Tony closed the door and then leaned against it. Maxxie hovered awkwardly and then finally sat down on the bed, a wary distance from Effy. Carefully, he placed his tea cup on the carpet at his feet. He watched as Effy began to pick at the purple nail polish on her fingernails. Then his eyes slid back to Tony, who stood statue-like at the door. Once again, Maxxie noticed the strange, invisible cord connecting Tony and Effy: how aware he seemed of her movements; the way her eyes were always drawn back to him.

"Boys are stupid."

Maxxie was startled. It took him a moment to realize it was Effy who had spoken. He had almost expected it to be the voice of an almighty god, or maybe a TV voiceover designed to narrate the situation.

She continued, nonplussed, "Why didn't you just show him what he was doing wrong?"

Maxxie looked at her with wary eyes. It was definitely less unnerving when she didn't speak at all.

"Girls share. Boys are just pricks. Narcissistic pricks." She laughed for a single moment and then was silent again.

Maxxie chose that moment to glance in Tony's direction, hoping he might mention that now was time for Effy to take her meds or something. Effy chose the moment he took his eyes off her to climb into his lap and start kissing him. It was really an impressively smooth ambush. She placed her hands on his shoulders, securing him in place, and then twisted her body around his. She flicked her hair out of the way and her face descended on his. He blinked and his lips met hers. Wet, hot and utterly impossible to dissuade, she coaxed open his mouth and inserted her tongue. What was astonishing was how little her seduction of him actually seemed to _involve_ him. He spent a few stunned seconds being enthusiastically kissed and then she pulled away.

Maxxie wondered exactly what it was about him that made members the Stonem family want to kiss him completely out of the blue. (Maybe he should be on his guard around Tony's mum and dad.)

"I—" he said, striving for articulation and failing. His eyes flicked wildly to the door, where Tony still stood. His expression was dispassionate, although his mouth seemed to have tightened into a decent approximation of a straight line.

"Ignore him," Effy suggested cheerfully and resumed kissing him. It was a still a full-frontal attack, although he had to admit, it wasn't unpleasant. He found it was difficult to follow her advice, though. He could feel Tony watching them—he could actually _feel_ Tony's eyes upon him. It was a sensation he felt as strongly as if fingers were tracing along the skin of his neck and shoulders.

Effy writhed in his lap and resistance, increasingly, seemed futile. His lack of participation in the whole endeavour continued to be a non-issue as Effy began opening up his trousers, picking apart the buttons with small, nimble fingers.

Her voice was breathless but impudent—almost sing-song with glee—as she said, "You can see who's better, gives us grades… marks out of ten!"

She licked her lips and he felt the last of his resistance evaporate. When Maxxie was twelve, he came to the conclusion that he was gay. There had been months of fighting with his mum, the bullying at school, his clumsily attempts to navigate the entirely new world of the gay scene. At that moment, his body did not seem remotely interested in any of these things, however life-changing they had been. Effy's fingers were poised to reach inside his boxers and his dick was definitely enthusiastic about this prospect, regardless of her gender.

As if sensing his crisis, Effy said, "I know you like boys, but I can't be worse than _him_, right?" She cast a scathing look over her shoulder.

"That's enough," Tony said suddenly. He stepped forward and grabbed Effy by the arm. He yanked hard, pulling her off the bed and onto her feet. "Stop it," he hissed at her.

Maxxie realized he was balling his hands with fistfuls of the bedspread. His trousers were still open, his boxer shorts straining. He watched open-mouthed as Effy, like an angry wasp, batted at Tony's hands that still held her in his grasp. When she freed herself, she tore open her shirt, revealing her breasts.

Defiantly, she addressed Maxxie: "Is it because of these—because I'm a girl? You can call me by someone else's name, it's okay. I don't care. Just pretend I'm a boy. No one's completely gay. No one's completely _anything_." Her voice grew frustrated. She whirled around to face Tony again. "You know I'm not a virgin, right? You know I probably had sex before _you_."

Tony rocked back on his heels. He stopped trying to grab at Effy, but he couldn't seem to stop looking at her.

Effy's voice was quieter, almost monotonous, when she continued, "I used to listen to you and Michelle through the walls, you know. When you'd sneak off to have sex." She sounded almost sad as she said, "I liked Michelle. She was too good for you." Her tone abruptly switched to upbeat and conversational as she turned to address Maxxie. "Michelle gives good head. Well, he always seemed to enjoy it." She lapsed into thoughtful silence.

Maxxie didn't think he could have formed words if his life depended on it. He exhaled slowly, his gaze flicking between Tony and Effy. _This is really fucked up_, he thought wildly. And yet, he was not leaving. Not even thinking about leaving.

He was thinking about Effy's mouth; the slight, cat-like smile that tended to appear, unexpectedly, at her lips. He was thinking about her milky-pale throat, how the skin swelled into small, perfect breasts. He was thinking about the way her eyes reflected in Tony's—that identical gaze; fierce and formidable; spelling out, _you and me against the world_.

"Get dressed," Tony told Effy.

"No," she said. She let her shirt slip to the floor, where it pooled, purple and silky. She arched her back, nudging into Tony's personal space, but without touching him.

Tony's lips moved for a moment, without forming sound. Maxxie thought he was going to start shouting. Instead, he reached out and to touch her hip—it was not the same forceful touch as earlier, but Tony still seemed tensed by a desire to control. He drew her close and she fitted against his body perfectly. Her breasts rose and fell in a single exhalation (a kind of, _ha, I win_) before their lips met.

Maxxie watched them kiss with something like shock—a dim echo of surprise that fused with a darker excitement. His thoughts splintered. This was—new?_ Yes_, he decided immediately. New like the pieces of herself Effy had clumsily scattered across the room: glittery breadcrumbs to assert her presence. It was the reason for the indescribable tension between them—their new, reckless desire for each other; antagonism fuelled into new touches, new transgressions. He also had a vague suspicion that it was, in part, theatre: it was play for his benefit.

"Effy?"

Maxxie was startled by the voice, a call from downstairs. It was Mrs. Stonem. The world outside of Tony's bedroom was making itself known and Maxxie realized he had half-forgotten it even existed. Tony and Effy parted, breathless, although their hands still lingered on each others' bodies, light strokes of fingertips against skin that seemed almost unconscious—compulsive.

"Sweetheart?"

Maxxie heard the creak of stairs. He stood up, so suddenly that he knocked over his forgotten cup of "tea". Liquid leaked across the carpet. He pulled at his trousers hastily. While he was quietly having a heart attack, Effy did not seem the least bit panicked. She bent down to retrieve her shirt and dressed quickly, but carefully. She wiped her mouth and spared a smile for Maxxie.

Effy crossed the room. A floorboard outside creaked and she opened the door at the precise moment her mother stepped up to the other side of the threshold. She closed the door behind her as she left the room. Maxxie could hear a flurry words exchanged between mother and daughter, muted by the door. Then came the sound of footsteps leading away.

Tony muttered, "Won't leave her alone for five fucking minutes anymore. Always wanting to know what she's doing. Always checking up on us."

Maxxie didn't want to mention it, but he felt that maybe Tony's parents were right to pay close attention to what their children got up to. He suddenly wished that less of the whiskey was staining Tony's carpet and more of it was entering his bloodstream.

"No offence, mate," said Maxxie, "but your sister's fucking crazy."

He honestly didn't mean it as a joke, but when Tony burst out laughing, he found himself overcome by a fit of laughter, too. A little of the tension seemed to dissipate. It was almost like they were friends again.

"You know," Tony said casually, as if this were a conversational topic he had been mulling over, "you didn't let me fuck you. In Russia. So you don't get to call me a crap shag. Until I fuck you."

"Oh, but Tony"—Maxxie did his best to imitate Tony's more-casual-than-thou inflection—"you're assuming I'm a bottom."

Tony smiled. Maxxie recognized it as the smile of grudging respect that he gave when someone unexpectedly impressed him. "Well, when you assume," Tony said in a fond drawl, "you make an ass out of you and me."

Maxxie echoed his smile. He realized it was probably the closest Tony would ever come to saying, _please fuck me_.

The door banged open and Maxxie started once again. _Effy_. She ducked inside and slammed the door behind her. Maxxie realized he had been edging ever so slowly towards Tony, as if desire were tingling through every part of him, making his feet move of their own accord.

"What did you do without me?" Effy asked impishly.

"N-nothing." Maxxie's mouth seemed to spit the word out on automatic.

Effy rolled her eyes. "Boys are stupid," she repeated.

Without hesitation, Effy unbuttoned her shirt and flung it onto the floor. She did a skip and a pirouette across the room, cutting a line between Maxxie and Tony, and then sank onto the bed. She cast aside stripy socks and Maxxie noticed that her toenails were purple, just like her fingernails. She shimmied out of dark jeans, leaving them to fall on the carpet like a snake's shed skin. Her underwear was green and she hooked her thumbs under the elastic and began to drag them down, exposing the sharp bones of her hips. Then she stopped.

"Oh," she said, as it were an afterthought, "Mum wanted to know if you want to go with her and Dad to the park. Apparently there's a group of people going owl-watching. Should be fun." Her hands were still poised at her pelvis. "They're leaving in five minutes. If you want to go."

"They're actually leaving us alone?" Tony asked slowly.

"I think they think that Maxxie's a good influence," she said. She shot him a look of exaggerated lust that was still entirely too filthy. She lowered her voice. "Personally," she murmured, "I think Maxxie's a very good influence. Very good."

From downstairs, Maxxie heard the metallic clink of the front door opening, followed by a bang as it slammed shut.

"Looks like we're parental-free," said Effy.

"Oh god," Maxxie said. He covered his face with his hands and let out a low moan. The situation had definitely begun to overwhelm him.

Effy chose to laugh at his obvious discomfort. Maxxie just continued to moan. After a moment, he felt a hand, warm and heavy at his shoulder. Tony yanked lightly at the neck of his t-shirt. He nosed closer and whispered, entirely without sympathy, "Alright?"

Maxxie took his hands away from his face. He took a deep breath and said, in the most conversational tone he could muster, "Tony, mate, could you do me a favour? Go downstairs and get that bottle of whiskey, please."

Effy's laughter became gleeful. When Maxxie looked in her direction, he realized that her underwear had joined the pile of clothes on the floor. She was now sprawled on the bed, naked and uninhibited. She seemed to pulse with energy; intoxicating and impossible to resist. He recognized, finally, her desire to be worshipped, to be a goddess—to be violated, to be misunderstood.

"Oh god," he said again. "I really need a drink."

"And then?" Effy asked eagerly.

"And then… I guess we'll see."


End file.
